Wear of AISI 4340 Steel Under Boundary Lubrication

Wear tests were conducted using AISI 4340 steel sliding on AISI 01 tool steel under boundary lubrication conditions. The AISI 4340 steel was heat treated to obtain different microstructures and hardness levels. The results indicated that the wear behavior depends on the heat treatment procedure. It was found that hardness alone cannot be used as a measure of wear and that the microstructure and other mechanical properties should also be used. Chemical reaction products containing phosphorus, sulfur and zinc were found on the wear surfaces lubricated with a fully formulated light oil containing zinc dithiophosphates. The chemically reacted film was nonuniform and consisted of patches 1–1500 μm in size. The larger patches were formed on the surface of steel with a pearlite-ferrite microstructure and resulted in a high wear rate. In contrast, the small patches and the thin blue and brown films were formed on the wear surface of tempered martensite steel and produced low wear rates.